Hajj Display Headlines Bloomfield Mosque’s Eighth Annual Open House

Bloomfield’s Muslim Unity Center’s well-planned open house attracts visitors

By Adil James, TMO

Bloomfield Hills—May 6—Last Sunday from 10AM to 5PM the Bloomfield Hills Mosque opened its doors to visitors, inviting them to see an innovative portrayal of Islam and Muslim practices. 

The event may have been the best planned open house because of the variety of exhibits and their quality.  The highlight was the “Virtual Hajj Expedition,” with a huge model of Ka’ba and nearby landmarks like the Station of Abraham.  There was also a Falafel cooking explanation presentation, and a presentation by a Muslim dentist.  There were facility tours, a calligraphy art exhibit, a neighbor’s quiz, and Middle Eastern food. Tour guides provided by the mosque brought visitors around the mosque, showing visitors to the exhibits and answering some of their questions.

Imam Masmari also gave presentations on Islam and its practices.

About 250 non-Muslim visitors took advantage of the opportunity to learn about their Muslim neighbors by attending the open-house.  They asked questions which the community did their best to answer.

Visitors took a quiz on leaving the mosque, and for correct answers had the opportunity to win several Blu-ray players that were raffled off at the event.

Ms. Dina El Gamal gave The Muslim Observer an excellent description of the open house, showing off the virtual hajj expedition, the calligraphy exhibit, the dentist’s free health screening, the Falafel cooking demonstration, and the Middle Eastern food.

She explained of the virtual hajj expedition that it is “mimicking Abraham,” and reliving the experiences of Adam, Eve, Abraham, Hajjar, and Ismail (as).

A beautiful calligraphy display was set up with art by Estabrak Salih.  The calligraphy transformed ahadith into visual representations–for instance one calligraphy picture which showed the word mother (in Arabic) four times, representing the hadith of Prophet (s) instructing Sayyidina Abu Hurairah (ra) four times that his mother was most deserving of his good treatment.

Ms. Salih’s art can be found online at www.aldeebaaj.com.

A dentist, Dr. Hazami Dali Hares, gave a presentation on good dental hygiene, teeth whitening, the relative benefits of manual vs. electric toothbrushes.

Ms. El Gamal explained that the purpose of the dental presentation was to point out that “we are, after all, members of this community.”

Local Muslim organizations were also on hand, including the Huda Clinic and the Oakland University MSA, to talk about their contributions to the community.

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